Facet Joint Injections for Back Pain

A facet joint injection is the name given to an injection into the small linking joints of the spine, the Facet joints. This type of treatment is widely used for the treatment of chronic back pain due to Facet Joint disease. A Facet joint injection is not a cure for the cause of your pain, but it is used to help reduce the level of your pain. The injection contains a mixture of local anaesthetic and steroid. It numbs the nerves for a period of hours giving short-term relief. Local steroid has a long-term effect reducing inflammation in the joint and around the nerves. There are only minimal effects on the rest of the body using local steroids by this route of administration. Any side effects, are more likely to occur if steroids are given orally over a short period of time, for example raised blood pressure and weight gain. Diabetics may experience short-term problems. If the Facet Joint injection is helpful it may be repeated at intervals of a minimum of four months. A Facet joint injection is performed as a day case procedure and it is performed with X-Ray control to help identify the small joints accurately.